Fruity Loops:
This piece of software is great especially for beginners although it is also used by advanced music producers.  Although Fruity Loops is a standalone program it also gives you the option to add VST instruments and plug-ins. In fact there are so many different things that you can add to Fruity Loops that it is a very powerful music production programme in itself. A lot of music producers frown at this software but believe me when I tell you that hit records are produced in Fruity Loops every single day.

Reason:
This is probably one of the best pieces of software simply for the reason that every single sample that you get with the software is 100% perfect. This software is usually used by more advanced music producers and people that already have a good idea how to go about making music. The sound that can be achieved with this piece of software is absolutely astonishing and is of a high enough quality for radio play. The only problem with this software is that it doesn’t give the ability to add VST Instruments and Plug-Ins. However it is possible to add samples to NNXT and Redrum.

Logic Pro:
This piece of software was developed by Apple and is probably one of the most used pieces of recording software in the industry. The software is used in pretty much every single record studio around the world and since its release has become almost a standard in music production. This software allows you to record instruments, record vocal tracks, add VST Instruments and Plug-ins all within this one single program. This means you don’t have to open multiple programs to do different jobs and create one full track.

ProTools:
Much like Logic Pro, Protools is also an industry standard and is used by many producers that need to record live performances and live instruments. Like Logic Pro, Protools also allows you to do almost anything you need all from within the program and can support almost anything you have in mind. Although it is basically the world’s best music production software it does come at quite a hefty price and before you make your decision on which piece of music production software to purchase you should take this into consideration and check it out.

What you will need:

Computer:
To start making music of any kind in your home you are going to need a decent computer. It doesn’t have to be anything special; it just needs to have enough memory and processing power to handle a good music production program and a few plug-in’s.

Digital Audio Workstation:
All this is is a piece of software that allows you to produce and sample sounds and then sequence them. This is extremely easy to do so there is no need to be intimidated. A good buy for newbie’s is FL Studio; if you are a little more advanced then I would recommend Reason. You can get a trail version of FL Studio from their website.

There is also another option to buying these two things. This is to buy a synthesiser that does everything. This will cost you around $3000 however. Let’s have a look at what you will need from a synthesiser:

Sounds:
In order to do anything at all with your synthesiser you will need a huge library of sounds to work with. You can also get some VST’s (Virtual Instruments), these are like real instruments only they run on your computer. This will enable you to get almost any sound you want to achieve. These can be expensive however but you can find some available for free for Google.

External Hard Drive:
As you create music more and more you will need somewhere to store it all. An external hard drive is the perfect place to do this.

MIDI Controller:
This is a must. A MIDI controller is basically a special keyboard which will allow you to control the information going into your DAW.

Audio Interface:
This is basically where you will plug any instruments or microphones you have and it acts as a bridge between you and your computer. There are many audio interfaces available on the market. One of the leading ones is an MBox. These can be picked up on eBay relatively cheap.

Microphone:
A microphone is not necessary but if you want to record vocals then it will be a big help. It is important to have a decent microphone for vocals and one can be picked up relatively cheap.

Headphones:
Headphones are a very important aspect of the kit as you will use them to listen to your mixes; if your headphones are low quality then you will not hear your mix properly and get bad results.

This software is very straightforward and comfortable to use. It has pretty much everything you could need from a piece of beat making software and has quite a few features that you would only normally see in a lot more expensive beat making programs.  When you are working in Fruity Loops is gives you the ability to rework your existing projects into many different files sorts and upload them to numerous and distinctive platforms. There program is extremely flexible and caters to your needs exceedingly well.

The Fruity Loops beat maker allows you to mix your tracks when they are finished and even cross reference every single one of your vocals and beats. While managing to do this, the Fruity Loops software will also continue to give you a professional top quality sound throughout the entire process.

The fruity Loops studio is a standalone program that doesn’t require any other software to create spectacular and professional sounding beats. It also allows you to create music in almost any genre you like and manages to pull off a professional sound for each one.

The idea behind Fruity Loops is that it can give you the ability to create and share music without needing to create any code. You will have almost all the tools that the professional music producers have at your fingertips and at a fraction of the cost. Fruity loops features up to sixty four simultaneous audio tracks which will allow you to create almost any idea you can think of.

Another concept that the Fruity Loops studios features is the ability to load instrument plug-ins. This gives you even more freedom to create exactly what you want and allows even more possibilities. This ability is usually only seen in much more expensive beat making programs such as Cubase and Protools.

Overall Fruity Loops is a great program and we would highly recommend it if you want to learn how to create your own beats. The programs interface is nicely designed and it easy to navigate through the many menus that the program has. Not only is this program well priced but it will also deliver very professional results giving you clear vocals and clear instrument tracks.

We highly recommended that you download a demo version of this program immediately and we are sure that you will be just as amazed at the product as we are. If you like then product then you can easily update your demo to the full version for a very small sum.

Basically a sample is just a snippet of any kind of sound; it could be a sample of a drum, a guitar, a busy road or anything you can imagine. All of these things when on their own are samples. The idea is that you will piece a variety of samples together in some way to create a track or piece of music.

Personally I think it is best if you use samples that you have somehow recorded yourself, but if you don’t have the time or simply can’t be bothered you can always buy samples. They are available on many websites to buy and you can also get them from a variety of shops.

Sampling was probably created by hip-hop artists as many of these take samples of other people’s songs and then mix them together to create a new song of their own. There are many reasons that people would do this, one of them being that some people have no way to record their own samples or buy other peoples samples. Another reason is that every single recording has its own unique sound; sampling allows you to take a piece of this sound and include it in your own songs.

One of the main Pro’s of sampling is that you ‘get something for nothing’ although in my opinion the cons outweigh the pros by far. For starters it is Copyright Infringement. There have been numerous cases in the past where famous artists have got into trouble for sampling other peoples work without permission.

In my opinion it is never worth the risk of sampling someone else’s music and I personally never use samples unless they are in the public domain. I am not saying that you should definitely never use samples yourself; I am simply saying that you need to be careful of using them and make sure not to breach copyright laws.

I hope this article has helped you understand audio samples and where they can be used a little more. Samples can add a whole new dimension to the sound of your music if they are used properly but please be careful.

If you are planning to use this effect on one of your drum samples, think about the type of sound and effect you want to achieve. Is it going to drive the listener crazy after a while? Is it going to be constant or just every now and again? When you figure out the exact thing you want to achieve with reverb then you will certainly be one step closer to achieving your goal.

The length of the reverb you put on your samples is one of the main things you need to focus on. A lot of people believe that songs with a much slower tempo warrant a longer release on the reverb sound patch. Other people would tell you to simply experiment with both long and short releases on medium and fast tempo songs and just see what works for you personally. Sometimes a longer amount of reverb will help to fill up the track and will mean that the other instruments will not need to perform as much. Basically it will take the burden of performance off the other samples and give you much more freedom.

Adding certain reverb to your projects can help you to create a certain tone to your song. You can even imply a location for the song such as an opera house or large venue. Although this might sound like a daunting task that would be hard to accomplish, using reverb will make it simple. You can achieve it simply by adding a different reverb setting to the entire selection of drum samples you have loaded and sometimes maybe even a bit of reverb to your instrument tracks. You will need to play around to try and create the most realistic listening experience you can.

Although I have mentioned a lot of ways of doing things so far in this article it is important to remember that as long as you manage to find something that actually works for the song, nobody will know what effect you have placed on it or the amount of reverb you are using. It is important to play around and allow a little improvisation.

If you take into amount what we have covered in this article and also use your natural instinct for applying these effects to your tracks then you will be well on your way to becoming a good music producer and will soon be ready for anything.

Should I Pay for Sounds?
Certainly not! Of course you can, if you want to, buy a variety of drum sounds both online and offline in places such as guitar centres and music shops but if you don’t have all the money in the world to spend on professional drum sounds then that isn’t a problem. Many of the world’s leading Hip-Hop producers have done perfectly fine without stocking up on every single company’s drum samples.

If you have a decent knowledge of audio compression and some other filtering and processing techniques then you can more than likely manage to develop your very own small set of drum samples that you can use over and over again and will come in useful all the time. There is only one problem with doing this and that is that if you are not careful then you will end up with a collection of hip-hop samples that all sound alike. This is because all of your samples are coming from one source and you will need to take care to make sure they don’t all sound alike, otherwise your recordings could sound a little stale.

Is it possible to use Dance Sounds for Gangster Rap?
Of course it is, all you need to be aware of is the arrangements. With a gangster rap loop, a gangster rap loop is exactly what you get, regardless of samples. A dance loop is just that also and so long as you keep the pattern right then you can use just about any samples you like.

Simply by doing a Google search for ‘Free Loops’ you will manage to find some great MIDI files available for private use. Also you should listen to some of your favourite artists and analyse the samples they are using and the way they are arranged and layered. If you apple what you learn from this to your own work then there is really no way you can fail.

Some drum samples seem louder than others, Why?
The reason for this is simple. These days there seems to be what I like to call a ‘Loudness War’ in music. More than ever it seems that drums are the make or break element, even in non-mainstream songs. This means that for the companies selling these drum samples, simply turning up the volume using compression on their samples could mean a much higher volume of sales. Exactly how much better they fare I’m not sure, but for the companies that are selling well treated drum samples that haven’t had the volume tampered with are losing out, just for doing the right thing. Most companies believe that noise influences sales; this is why you will find TV ad’s to be louder than the actual programme.

The Sequencer:

The sequencer will be one of the main and most important parts of the program that you will use, no matter which program you choose to buy. The sequencer is the part of the software that you will use to create your own beats and lay your track onto. Two of the most popular programs out there that are used mainly by hip-hop producers are Reason and Fruity Loops. Fruity Loops comes in 3 different versions and the features vary slightly depending on which version you choose, but so does the price also. We recommend that you have at least the Fruity Edition as the Fruity Loops Express Edition cannot be used as a standalone sequencer and will require other software in order to use it. In our opinion Fruity Loops offers the best value for money being only $149 whereas Reason is $499. Obviously Reason gives you the better sequencer but if you’re looking for value for money or are on a tight budget then Fruity Loops is the way to go.

The Sound Editor:

The function of a sound editor is to edit wave files, which is very useful in sample based production. Sample based production is basically where you would chop up a variety of records and then make an entirely new song out of it. Some of the best and most popular sound editors available at the moment are Adobe Audition, Propellerhead’s Recycle, and Sony’s Sound Forge. As with the sequencer there isn’t technically one of the programmes which is the best, it is all down to your preference. Personally, we think that Adobe Audition is one of the best we have used so far and retails at $349. There is also a sound editor in Fruity Loops Producer Edition if you are working on a tight budget.